Covid-19 Accelerates Digital Banking Among Migrant Workers
As thousands of migrant workers in Singapore remain isolated in their dormitories, many of them are shifting to digital banking to get paid or remit money home.
Account openings among migrant workers at Post Office Savings Bank (POSB), a consumer bank that operates as part of DBS, reached 41,000 in April, compared to the monthly average of 11,000 to 13,000 the bank said in an announcement this week.
The rise was attributed to a Ministry of Manpower advisory to employers to pay their workers electronically and on time during the «circuit breaker» or face penalties. The vast majority of migrant workers are also under stay-home orders that do not allow them to leave their dormitories or places of residence.
According to POSB, 500,000 migrant workers have opened accounts with the bank, and it hopes to bank all the remaining 250,000 migrant workers by year-end.
Covid-19 Prompts Change
«Post-Covid-19, we are likely to see a big change in how employers have to manage the administration of their workers, including making sure the workers have access to banking services,» DBS head of consumer banking group (Singapore) Jeremy Soo said.
POSB's «Jolly» app, launched in 2017, allows account holders to perform basic banking transactions by SMS and charges no remittance fees. It is available with five language options: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Chinese and Tamil, and has seen 520,000 downloads so far.
In the past month, the number of remittance transactions for work permit holder accounts grew by 45 percent, and has doubled year-on-year.
Case Numbers Surge
According to «The Straits Times,» there are 284,300 work permit holders in the construction industry. Some 200,000 live in 43 mega-dormitories, many of which have been criticized for their cramped and poor living conditions.
Covid-19 cases among foreign workers staying in dorms have been rising steadily since early last month. As of Wednesday, there were 25,346 confirmed cases – with migrant workers making up more than 23,000 – and 21 deaths.
To date, some 32,000 migrant workers in dormitories have been tested for Covid-19, according to a Ministry of Health press release on Tuesday.
